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On May 23, ‘China Daily Asia Weekly’ became the latest newspaper to join the
CIMB-Asean ePaper collaboration just as Malaysia and China celebrated 40 years of ties. StarMetro’s intern from China, MA FEI HUI, was on hand to witness the launch and shares her thoughts on the partnership and her life in Malaysia, thus far.

WHAT an amazing year 2008 was! It was the year I decided to leave China and pursue further education in Universiti Malaya.

I was born in Jiao Zuo City in He Nan province, north of China.

I am the second of three children and in my earlier years, lacked independence and an adventurous spirit.

However, after I finished high school in China, I decided to head to Malaysia to further my studies.

Now, recalling the last six years in Malaysia, so many thoughts are flooding my mind. Many memories are still feel fresh, like they happened only yesterday.

I graduated from Universiti Malaya (MU) in 2012 with a degree in education, majoring in teaching English as a second language (TESL). Now, I am pursuing a master’s degree in UM with a major in publishing studies.

Universiti Malaya has built its reputation over the years and it was not hard for me to find information about the university when I first applied to further my studies.

I chose to study there without knowing much about the city. However, upon arrival, I could not find a reason not to like it.

Kuala Lumpur is amazing, with everything I could have hoped for — bustling, modern and cosmopolitan, but not without its share of greenery and picturesque views.

The size of the city is also perfect — big enough to get lost in, busy enough to make sure you are never bored, but small enough to feel comfortable.

As for my degree course, what I enjoyed most was how the theories taught in the lectures could be applied when we carried out projects and participated in internship programmes.

This means we could apply what we had learnt in “real” life and this definitely helped with the understanding of the subject.

In 2011, for instance, I was assigned to a Form Four English teacher in a local secondary school. During that time, I learnt how to conduct lessons using lesson plans and how to attract the students’ attention during class.

I also learnt how to encourage and motivate the students.

Along the way, I have made some good friends, not just Malaysians but students of other nationalities as well. They are friendly and help me a lot.

Being an international student does have its ups and downs. There was the initial culture shock and I took some time adjusting to the different accents, but I have largely adapted now.

It is a different way of life compared to the one I would lead in my home country, China, and I would say it is much more fun with lots of opportunities offered; countless societies to join and new activities to try.

So far, I absolutely love my life in Malaysia.

Now, I work as an intern in The Star and on Friday, I, as a Chinese citizen, was proud to witness the launch of the latest CIMB-Asean ePaper collaboration with China Daily Asia Weekly just as Malaysia and China celebrated the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties.

I was fortunate to be invited to witness this historical moment and I feel the CIMB-Asean ePaper collaboration is a strong and reliable platform for readers to gather and exchange information on the Internet.

I strongly believe that the collaboration between The Star and China Daily Asia Weekly is a combination of giants and is poised to turn a brand new page in relations between the two countries.

During the launch, Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Huang Huikang was optimistic that this would happen and quoted a famous Chinese proverb, “Qian chuan hui hai kuo, Feng hao zheng yang fan”, which symbolises seizing opportunities and joining hands to bring an even better future to the China-Malaysia relationship.